


The Crows Who Learned To Love

by Interupptingmoose218



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Autism, Autism Spectrum, BoyxBoy, Cuddling, Cute, Developmentally Disabled, Diaper, Disability, Disabled Character, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Gay, Hugs, Kissing, LGBTQ Character, Learning Disabilities, Love, M/M, Pacifier - Freeform, Romance, Sports, Stim, Volleyball, highschool, mental health, sick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:14:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24211183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Interupptingmoose218/pseuds/Interupptingmoose218
Summary: Daichi Sawamura, adoptive son of Coach Keishin Ukai, is a young man struggling to fit into a world that's cruel to him. Born with severe developmental disabilities and mild autism, Daichi struggles to find his place in the world. He is homeschooled by his father and spends time at the store with him. Almost everyone in town knows him and has come to care for him. As he grew up, Daichi has developed a love for Volleyball. He watches it on tv at night, clips of it on YouTube, practices throwing the ball and asks anyone he can to play pretend games with him. So when his father gets the opportunity to coach the high school's volleyball team, Daichi is more excited than Ukai is. Daich accompanies his father to nightly practices and he is adored by the Karasuno team. But there is one member of the team who takes a particular interest in him. A third-year named Koshi Sugawara. The two form a close bond, and soon Suga is all Daichi can talk about. The teen is developing his first crush, and through his new friends, learns how to navigate the twists and turns of love.
Relationships: Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi
Comments: 5
Kudos: 87





	1. Chapter 1

Daichi has lived with his father for as long as he could remember. He's happy with his Papa, he loves him with his whole heart and depends on him for a lot of things. Daichi sees the world a little differently than a lot of people, and because of this, he faces bullies and cruel words almost daily. 

Daichi was born with developmental and learning disabilities that make it difficult for him to perform on a level expected of his age. He struggles with tasks that others would deem easy, and excels at some tasks others would claim difficult. Daichi struggles with showering by himself and getting to the bathroom on time, but he is the world's best memorizer. He knew every single position of a volleyball team within just 2 days of watching the games on tv. He knew the names of every player on the local high school teams. 

Daichi is unique in his own ways, and is the sweetest boy in the entire world. 

It was October 11, a beautiful autumn afternoon. The breeze was chilly, but the sun beating down on the pavement was warm. Orange leaves blew silently along the street and settled down in piles outside of Ukai's small store. Daichi had finished his chores for the afternoon - which consisted of putting away the morning's order of cookies - and he was allowed to go out and play. The 17 year old was laying on the grass outside the store, munching on a small box of crackers and flipping through a picture book. 

Daichi was getting better at his reading. The book was aimed toward 4 or 5 year olds, and told the story of a male shark who got bullied because he was pink while all the other boy sharks were blue. Daichi was reading to himself outloud, carefully sounding out each and every word. But the poor kid almost got scared out of his mind when his father poked his head out of the doorway and called for him. 

"Hey! Kiddo! Get your butt in here," Ukai called with a playful smile. "I got good news!" He said. Daichi grabbed his book and his snack before he ran to his father, smiling wide. 

"You know Karasuno right?" Ukai asked, putting his hands on his hips. "Their volleyball team is in desperate need of a coach, and after a lot of back and forth, i've agreed to be their coach," He explained gently. Daichi was quiet as he thought about that. 

Ukai smiled as he watched him work it out. "You know what that means buddy? You get to come with me to see them practice. These guys are serious Volleyball players, people who can give you real pointers, better than I can," He rubbed his son's back. 

Daichi's face lit up at the prospect. Real volleyball players?! He'd seen the Karasuno team on tv, they were always really cool. He jumped up and down in excitement. "Volleyball!" He squealed in excitement, beginning to shake his wrists like he were flicking off water. A stim of excitement. He often did these repetitive movements in order to help stimulate himself and express his emotions. He had stims he did when he was happy, when he was angry and upset. They helped him to get rid of some of his extra energy and emotions. 

Ukai smiled and he chuckled at his son's reaction. "Yeah! We're gonna head there tomorrow after your lessons okay?" He said. "So I want you to prepare for that. That's a lot of new people you're going to meet, is that gonna be alright?" He asked. Unlike a lot of people that Daichi met, his father didn't speak down to him. He didn't raise his tone of voice like people often did with him, like he was a little kid and an idiot. His Papa talked to him like he was a teenager, using his normal tone of voice. It was a small gesture, but something that went a really long way. 

"Volleyball!" Daichi screeched, so excited he dropped his book so that he could shake both of his hands. He ran away from Uaki and upstairs to his bedroom. He walked in a tight circle in the middle of his bedroom, an exercise he practiced so much there was a small circle worn into his carpet. Daichi loved repetitive movements almost as much as he loved volleyball. Daichi was a stickler for schedules and routine, when his routine got messed up, it stressed him out. 

Tomorrow would be hard. Normally his afternoon's would be spent outside in the backyard until dinnertime, but tomorrow that would change. He wouldn't get his outside time, and he would have to meet a lot of new people. He hadn't thought about that yet, too excited about the prospect of getting to go to a real volleyball court. But once Daichi settled into his new routine, he would most likely flourish and would look forward to the afternoon practices. 

Daichi ran over his bed and he laid down, grabbing his iPad off of his desk and pulling up youtube. He opened up a clip of Karasuno playing in the preliminaries last year. 11 members. Number Twelve was Yamaguchi, a middle blocker. Number Eleven was their Tsukushima, another middle blocker. He slowly made his way up the list. He always started his lists from the bottom, his took his tests back to front as well. He didn't know why, but he'd always done it like that, and found doing it the other way around to be strange and frustrating. 

Daichi knew all of their personalities, all of their numbers, their moves and their names. He was going to meet them! All of them! They were like celebrities to him, and he was so excited.  
But something about Number Two always drew his attention. Number Two had very beautiful eyes, and Daichi liked how he cared about his teammates and his friends. He often found himself watching only Number Two. Koshi Sugawara...Daichi smiled as he watched him jump up and set the ball. He squirmed a little bit on the bed and he smiled. 

Like every teenager, puberty was hard for Daichi. He watched movies and tv shows were boys talked about women's breasts and their butts. Daichi didn't understand it. Butts were for pooping, he didn't understand why anyone would find them pretty. But his understanding of attraction was very simple. He didn't know about the birds and the bees, why would he? He didn't have a partner, and his father wanted to keep his innocence for as long as he could. Daichi didn't look at people as being sexually attractive. He found them beautiful, pretty, looking more at their personality than their outside appearance.

He saw on tv how boys talked about wanting a women for a wife some day, but Daichi found himself not wanting a wife. He wanted a husband. He didn't look at women, he looked at men. Daichi kept these feelings to himself, he didn't see anything abnormal or strange about them so he didn't bring them up to his father. He didn't understand that not everyone wasn't attracted to other men. He was naive in that regard. 

Daichi had a crush on Karasuno High's Number two player Koshi Sugawara, he wanted Suga to be his friend. He wanted to do jigsaw puzzles with him and play trains with him. He wanted to lay with his head on Suga's chest like he saw couple's do on television. But Daichi understood that he couldn't act on those feelings, not yet. He wanted to be Suga's friend. Tomorrow....he thought. 

[I] Tomorrow I will ask Sugawara to be my friend.


	2. Chapter 2

The morning passed far too slowly for Daichi's liking. He was stressed and anxious all morning, wound extremely tightly. Everything seemed to bother him, customers being just a little bit too loud, large trucks driving by, the breeze was just a little bit too cold. He neglected his morning chores, something he often enjoyed doing. He argued with Ukai about doing his lessons, and he had several accidents that morning. 

Ukai was worried, if Daichi was wound this tightly, he wasn't sure it was such a good idea to take him to the school. But perhaps his son was only upset because it wasn't the afternoon yet, because Daichi calmed right down whenever Ukai talked to him about going to practice. If that was the case, he knew he would need to incorporate lessons in patience into their morning homeschool lessons. 

Daichi was so excited that he spent most of his free time that morning in the car rather than outside in the sun. He sat in the passenger seat of the truck, curled up and watching YouTube on his iPad. Daichi loved his father's little car. It was a small Toyota Pixis that had definitely seen better days. It used to be a beautiful blue, but the sun had faded the paint to a dull lighter shade, and all but one of the hubcaps had run away. The truck was a trooper though, and somehow it was able to grumble to life each time. It was old and run down, but Ukai said it had character and was nice and reliable. 

Daichi liked it because it was something he had grown up with, he knew everything about the truck. He knew the little crease that ran along the passenger side seat. He knew how sometimes the passenger window stuck a little bit when he went to roll it down, and how sometimes the tailgate came loose and fell with a loud bang. 

Finally, after far too long, Ukai walked out to the truck, swinging his keys around his finger and whistling. He slid into the drivers seat beside Daichi. "You ready to go kiddo?" He asked as he turned the truck on. 

Daichi was so excited he could've screamed. But he knew that was one of the rules he had to follow when he was in the car. No screaming, no matter how upset or happy he got. Because it was dangerous and could scare his Papa when he was driving. So Daichi settled for an excited head shake, beginning to rock a little bit in his seat. 

Ukai chuckled as he buckled his seat belt and backed slowly out of the driveway. "Yeah...that was a pretty obvious question huh bud?" He smiled and he put the truck into drive and headed toward the high school. 

Daichi had driven this route many times, as he always went with Ukai to make deliveries and pick up supplies. He had a very good memory and could probably draw a map of the surrounding area by this point. He leaned forward to set his iPad in his bag and he pulled out his plush toy. 

That poor toy had definitely seen better days. It was an orange octopus with only 6 tentacles left. And the bottoms of those tentacles had no fuzz left because Daichi often chewed on them when he got anxious and didn't have his pacifier. The octopus was orange, the same color as the Karasuno team so Daichi had seen it only fit to name it after them. So he had named it Volley. 

Daichi hugged the small toy tightly to his chest as he continued to shake his head, back and forth, back and forth, like he was saying no over and over again. But he wasn't upset, merely so excited he couldn't possibly stay still even if he wanted to. 

It wasn't long before Ukai pulled into the school parking lot. He parked close to the large gymnasium and he got out, walking around to Daichi's side to help him out of the car, but Daichi was already out of the car. 

Ukai smiled, putting his hands in his pockets. "Come on bud, they're expecting us and we don't want to be late," He paused before opening the backseat and grabbing his son's backpack out and slinging it over his shoulder. He then walked with Daichi into the gymnasium. 

Even though Daichi was tall, he had to crane his neck a little bit in order to see the ceiling of the building. It was massive! And it smelled....nice. It smelled of vinyl and of cleaning materials like his Papa used at the store. His sneakers were loud on the wooden floor boards and he could hear the squeaking of lots of sneakers, just like in the videos he had watched. 

He looked up just in time to see Number Nine, Tobio Kageyama, set a ball for Number Ten, Shoyo Hinata. The boy jumped...just like Daichi had seen him do so many times on his iPad, but seeing it in person was so different. He looked like he was flying, he went up so high. The ball slapped against his hand and slammed into the ground. The noises in here were a lot louder than they were on YouTube, the gym echoed the sounds and Daichi brought his hands up to cover his ears. Too loud....

Ukai gently rubbed Daichi's back as he lead him over toward the bleachers. He gently sat him down and gave him a kiss on the forehead. "Its okay buddy....it's okay. They're all done for right now, it's quiet," He smiled as he very gently took Daichi's hands off of his ears. The team had noticed their arrival and had paused their practice so the gym was quiet as they all walked over. 

Daichi was a little nervous now as he looked up at them. They were all so tall....they made Daichi feel little as he sat on the bench. He hugged little Volley tightly to his chest and he gulped. He had to introduce himself. He'd practiced that this morning....he knew exactly what he was supposed to say. He looked up at the team of giants. 

"I-I....I Daichi," He said, trying to keep his voice strong as he slowly stood up. "I....." He was so nervous he froze up, it was like the words were on the tip of his tongue but he just couldn't get them out. He gave a noise of frustration and stomped his foot a couple of teams. 

"Easy there big man. Don't force yourself, they'll come to you. They're just words after all," Daichi looked up to see who was talking. Number Three - Asahi Azumane - one of the tallest on the team. His smile was so....so gentle, it made Daichi feel all warm inside and he nodded. Then he bowed quickly before standing back up. 

"I Daichi!" He said, more confidently this time. If that was all he could say right now, than at least he could say it in confidence. His name was returned with a round of smiles and fist bumps as everyone introduced themselves in return. Daichi was grinning, he already knew all of their names but hearing them say them was just so amazing. He grinned as he began to shake his hands, happy flapping is what Ukai called it. His Papa often smiled and told him that one of these times he was going to take flight. Daichi thought that was a very thing to say, people couldn't fly away like that. 

"Hi Daichi!" Daichi looked up when he heard a voice he didn't recognize. "It's very nice to meet you. I'm Koshi Sugawara," 

Daichi looked over at the volleyball player, feeling his heart beginning to beat a little faster when he saw him. Daichi looked up toward his eyes, but he quickly looked away again. Looking at eyes in pictures and videos was easy because they didn't look back at you, he didn't have to try and guess what they were thinking. But looking at eyes in real life was hard for him, because people always looked back at him and it felt overwhelming for him. But Suga had such pretty eyes, he wished he could look at them. 

"Yes....Yes." Daichi said, rocking a little bit on his heels as he looked at Suga's chin. He knew he was supposed to look at his face, it was polite, but he didn't know where else to look. "Koshi Sugawara....yes number two.....Yes...Vice Captain....Substitute Setter....for Tobio Kageyama, Number nine." Daichi was more-so talking to himself then to Suga, reciting all of the information he knew. 

Suga chuckled as he listened to Daichi, giving him a warm smile. "Wow...you know a lot about me huh? Do you watch a lot of volleyball?" He asked, trying to get Daichi to calm down a little bit and warm up to them. 

Daichi's rocking got a little bit faster and he began to hum quietly under his breath. He began to shake his head a couple of times. "Mhmmm....Yes. Volleyball..mhmmm lots of volleyball...mmmm Youtube," He said, humming between his words. "Mmmm Suga has a nice voice," He told him, shaking his head a little bit faster. "Sounds like...mmmm....an old car," 

Suga seemed surprised by that, because he raised an eyebrow and he laughed softly. "I sound like an old car huh?" He asked, not sure if he should be offended or not. 

Daichi was very fast to nod so that he could go back to shaking his head from side to side. "Mmmm old classic cars. Like on Papa's tv shows...." He spoke, running his fingers over the fuzz on his little octopus toy. "Their engines....mmmm they purr. Like....smooth and sturdy. Suga's voice sounds like an old car engine. Mmmmm which means Suga is strong...and re-re-reliable. L-like....old cars," He mumbled, shaking his toy up and down a little bit. 

That made Suga smile, this boy was the sweetest thing in the entire world. "Do you like cars?" He asked him curiously. "I think i've got some toy cars at home from when I was a baby, would you like me to bring them tomorrow for you to play with?" He asked. 

Suga was going to bring him toys? Daichi was going to be able to play with Suga's toys? He went back to humming as he quickly nodded. 

"Yes...yes please. I....I got lots of cars. They on my shelf at home. B-Beside my trains." He said and he gave Suga a wide grin. "I-I wanna show you my trains....mmmm...one day."

Suga chuckled quietly. "I would love to see your train set buddy. I've got to go practice right now okay? But i'll talk to you some more before I go home tonight. It was very nice to meet you Daichi!" He called the last part over his shoulder as he ran off to join the rest of his team in running practice laps. 

Ukai had already fallen into the role of coach and was talking to their team manager about play strategies which left Daichi essentially alone. But that was okay, Daichi didn't really want to talk to anyone right now. He wanted to be alone with his thoughts. 

Daichi walked slowly over to the door of the gym which was propped open to let in a nice breeze. He sat himself down in the doorway and looked out over the school grounds. Suga wanted to see his train sets....and he was going to bring him toys. Daichi hugged Volley tightly and he hid his face in her soft fuzz, letting out a happy squeal. 

Daichi was comforted by the sound of the team's squeaky sneakers as they ran around the gym, and the gentle breeze which rustled through his hair. He closed his eyes and he lifted his head, letting the sun warm his face and smelling the grass below his feet. Daichi was convinced he was the happiest man on the entire planet right now. 

No...maybe happy wasn't the right word. Because he didn't feel like jumping up and down and flapping like he did when Papa told him they were going for ice cream. This was a different kind of happiness. Like...like he wanted to stay in this moment for the rest of his life. Like he wanted all of his thoughts and emotions to just park themselves in his brain and never change. He was content, he was satisfied. 

He giggled as he laid on his back, looking up at the ceiling of the gym. He slowly closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It was almost falltime, which meant apple pies, pumpkins and candy. Fall was Daichi's favorite time of year, second only to the first snowfall. He slowly sat up and turned around, watching the team go round and round the gym. It made him giggle, volleyball was for jumping! Jumping up and flying, so why were they running? 

He slowly stood up and he looked around. His eyes went wide when he saw his father, beside him was a basket full of volleyballs. There must have been 100! Well, maybe 100 was a lot, but there was at least 20. He ran over to it and picked up a volleyball. He had one at home but it was very old, and the colors had faded. These ones were so bright! And so smooth. He ran his fingers over the smooth surface, liking how it felt. 

Holding the ball with both hands, he walked out on to the court and he looked around. The net was so tall! And the bleachers all around....what was it like when they were filled? When everyone was looking at you, expecting you to do your very best. He looked down at the volleyball and he realized his hands were shaking, he quickly dropped the ball and covered his eyes. He couldn't do that! What if he messed up! What if people laughed at him? He felt a hand on his back and he nearly jumped out of his skin, looking over to see his father. 

"Are you alright kiddo? What's wrong big guy?" Ukai put a hand on the small of Daichi's back and lead him over to the bleachers, helping him sit down. "Did you have an accident? Does your belly hurt?" 

Daichi was quick to shake his head. He missed Volley! He'd dropped her over by the basket of volleyballs. He opened and closed his hands into fists a couple of times and shut his eyes tightly. When he opened them a moment later, the bleachers were empty once again and he was okay. He looked up at his Papa. "Okay." He said and he gave a small nod. 

Ukai smiled and he gave Daichi a gentle kiss on his forehead. "I love you big guy. The team is gonna start some drills in a bit okay? You can watch them if you'd like, or, I brought some of your cars, they're over in your bag by the door." 

Daichi nodded slowly. He stood and he walked over to grab his abandoned octopus before he grabbed his bag by the door and brought it back to his seat on the bleachers. He started to play with his cars but he got distracted by the volleyball team. They were just so fast, strong, and tall. And watching them in real life was a thousand times better than watching them on his iPad. 

____

Practice wore on late into the night, far past Daichi's bedtime. It was almost 10:00 PM when Ukai finally told everyone to go change. Daichi was curled up on the bleachers, clutching Volley in his hands, his cars spread out around him. He was sound asleep. 

Ukai chuckled as he picked up his cars before putting his bag over his shoulder, he then very gently lifted Daichi into his arms. He couldn't carry Daichi as much as he used to, but he could still carry him for a little ways. He poked his head into the locker room to say goodnight to the team and they all thanked him and told him it was very nice to meet both him and Daichi. 

Suga paused before he walked over to his new Coach and he looked at Daichi, smiling at him. "Your son is wonderful sir. He's so sweet, I look forward to seeing the both of you again," He smiled and he gave them a bow. Ukai couldn't return it because of how he was carrying Daichi, but he nodded his head and gave his thanks. He said goodnight and goodbye before he carried Daichi to the car and he gently set him in the passenger seat and buckled him in. 

Daichi stayed asleep for most of the ride home, shifting when they stopped at a red light and slowly lifting his head. "Papa?" He mumbled sleepily. 

Ukai reached over and gently stroked Daichi's hair. "Go back to sleep buddy, we're almost home," He assured him and Daichi leaned his head back and was soon out like a light once more. 

When they got home, Ukai carried Daichi's things in and set them up just how he knew he liked them, lining his cars up along the shelf just as they had been that morning. Once that was done, he returned to the car and very gently lifted Daichi up. He brought him up to his room and changed him into some night time clothes before he tucked him into bed and gave him a goodnight kiss. "Goodnight Buddy, I love you," He said before turning the light out. 

Daichi yawned as he curled up. "Love Papa," He mumbled. He was snoring before Ukai even reached the door.


	3. Soda Bubbles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mentions of Panic Induced Self Harm

⚠️Mentions of Panic-Induced Self Harm ⚠️

October passed quickly. The Karasuno team was preparing for spring preliminaries, and although it was only autumn now, they knew that the tournament would be on them before they knew it. Practice started at the same time every day, but it was going later and later as the team began to practice more advanced and more complicated attacks and skills. Sometimes, Ukai and Daichi didn't get home until 11:00 PM, which was late for Daichi who had been used to going to bed at 8:00 every night. 

Daichi loved going to practice, he'd begun to participate in the team's warm up laps, and he helped to clean up every night - if he was still awake - and he loved it. He'd become close friends with a lot of the team, a couple of the quieter ones like Kageyama and Tsukishima still intimidated him. 

Today was October 28th, just 3 days before Halloween and the end of a month of practices. It was also a Friday, the last day of a long week of even longer practices. And poor Daichi was just not having a good day at all. He'd woken up too late and had missed his morning shower which had put his routine all out of whack. This caused him a lot of stress, he didn't like it when his routine was messed up with something small like that.

On top of that, the normal Friday delivery had been an hour late which further messed up his routine. He couldn't put it away if it was late. Daichi had stood in the driveway of the store as he waited, getting more and more agitated and upset as the hour passed. Ukai had tried to distract him, but nothing worked. 

Daichi didn't want to go to practice today and he had locked himself in his room, refusing to come out. He could be heard pacing in a circle, just like he always did when he was overly agitated or angry. 

Ukai sighed as he gently knocked on the door. "Buddy please....I know you're upset but you have both tomorrow and Sunday to get back on track. Besides.....not going to practice will leave your afternoon completely open sweetheart. I know you don't like open time like that. All of the kids really want to see you. And hey....if you go to practice tonight, i'll take you to that sushi place downtown for dinner tomorrow okay?" He suggested. Ukai knew that he shouldn't bribe his son, but he was desperate right now. They were already late, and he didn't want to force Daichi to go because then the risk for a meltdown would be even higher. Ukai hated meltdowns, not because they were hard to calm and could be destructive, but because they broke his heart. He hated seeing his son so distressed and upset, and he always did everything in his power to prevent them before they escalated to that level. Ukai was quiet as he waited for an answer. 

Slowly, the door creaked open and a teary eyed Daichi looked out at his father. He had his pacifier in his mouth, Volley clutched tightly under his arm and he was clutching tightly to a tangle; a fidget toy he used to distract himself and his hands. He opened the door the rest of the way and he wiped his eyes before he nodded. Words were hard for him right now, but nodding would work. 

Ukai smiled at Daichi, knowing he couldn't give him a hug he gave him a thumbs up. "Good job sweetheart. I'm proud of you. Can you grab your headphones? Just in case okay?" He said and he gave Daichi a gentle kiss to tell him he was proud of him before he turned and went slowly downstairs. 

Daichi paused in the doorway to slowly rock on his heels before he turned and walked over to his drawer and he pulled out his noise canceling headphones. He couldn't shake his head with these on, and that made him sad, but it would be okay, that was why he was bringing his fidget toy. He paused and he crouched down in front of his shelf. All of his toy cars were facing the door, headlights out. Daichi wanted to bring one with him, to remind him of home. He looked over the orange cars and he picked one up. He shook it a couple of times as he headed downstairs. 

\-------------------------------------

The ride to Karasuno was quiet, but it wasn't awkward. Daichi was curled up in his seat, humming lowly around his pacifier. Today was just a bad day for him. Everyone had bad days, Daichi just had a little bit of a harder time with them. But the humming helped, it gave him white noise for him to focus on. He wanted to scream, just one big loud screech to get rid of some of the heavy in his stomach and his chest. But he couldn't do that, so he stuck to humming. 

Daichi ended up having an accident on the way there, the wet padding between his legs felt so much louder than it normally did. All of his senses seemed extra heightened on his bad days. He began to cry quietly, shaking his head quickly from side to side as they parked. Everything to just too much. 

"Oh sweetheart...." Ukai got out and he walked around to the passenger side. "Shhhh, it's okay. It's okay. Papa's here," He unbuckled his son and he gently lifted him into his arms. "Let's get you a treat from the vending machine okay? And i'll change you," He grabbed their bags out of the backseat and he walked with him into the gymnasium. 

Daichi clung to his toys and he sobbed. Everything was too loud. To loud! To much! And he couldn't even cover his ears because of the toys in his hands! That only succeeded in making him more frustrated. 

Ukai stayed quiet. He wanted to comfort him, and whisper little promises in his ear, but he knew that the extra noise of that would stress his baby out. He very gently set him down on the bench and he pulled his headphones out of his bag and he slid them over Daichi's ears. Before he slid them completely over, he spoke. "I'm going to get another diaper out of the car okay big guy, stay here and be brave for me," He gently kissed his forehead and he slid the headphones over his ears. He opened the cooler he'd brought for the team and pulled out a soda which he offered to Daichi. He then jogged back off toward the car. 

The headphones helped, a lot, and Daichi was slowly beginning to calm down. The team had surrounded him, sitting down beside him and trying their best to comfort him. But they were all too close, it was stressing him out. And the soda can was very very cold on his hands. He hiccuped as more tears began to spill down his cheeks. His hands were shaking badly as he tried to open the soda can, and once he got it open it slipped out of his hands onto his lap. 

The freezing cold, sticky liquid on his thighs and belly was just the final straw. He gave a horrible, very upset sounding shriek and he covered his eyes with his hands, breathing heavy. Everything hurt! Everything was too loud! He dropped his hands to his lap and wrapped them around his belly, quickly shaking his head from side to side. He sobbed and sobbed. Everything was too much, he felt like his belly, his body was on fire. Like his entire body was bubbling like soda. 

Someone put a gentle hand on his back but he recoiled like it had burned him and he sobbed. His hands went up to his hands and began to pull, but that didn't give him the relief he was looking for, so he let his pacifier fall from his mouth and he brought his hand into his mouth and he bit down. Hard. He felt the taste of blood on his tongue but the pain was something to ground him, something that he could focus on and make the loud world go away. 

He felt someone pulling on his wrist and he opened his eyes to see a very frantic looking Papa, trying to talk to him. He felt his headphones being pulled off and he kicked his legs in frustration. But they banged against the bleachers he was sitting on and the noise was too much, so he quickly stopped that. 

Ukai managed to pull Daichi's hand from his mouth and he held it tightly. "Shhhh," He whispered quietly to Daichi. Takeda was very gently ushering the team away and explaining to them what was happening, trying to get them to go back to practice as Daichi didn't want all of them hovering. 

They all reluctantly went, except for Suga. The setter was sitting beside Daichi with teary eyes, watching this man hurting himself was breaking his heart and he wished there was more he could do. 

Ukai hated moments like this. There wasn't much he could do. He knew Daichi had to work through these things mostly on his own, and that he would get mad at too much interference. All he could do, was make sure that Daichi knew that he was safe and loved, and that he could get through this. 

Daichi howled, pulling desperately against Ukai's grip on his wrists. But Daichi was much much stronger than Ukai and he quickly freed his hand which went immediately into his mouth. He bit down hard, a little bit of blood dripping down onto his pants. His other hand was in a tight fist, hitting the bleachers beside him over and over again because the noise it made was very loud and he knew exactly when the next one was coming. He could count the loud noises, and it made everything else seem not as bad. 

Suga quickly took his fall jacket off and he turned it inside out. Because it was like a hoodie, meant for cold weather, the inside was very soft and fluffy. "Daichi.....here, stop biting and feel this," He very gently rubbed the fuzzy side against Daichi's wrist that was near his mouth. 

Daichi's breath hitched against a sob, and it took a lot of gentle rubbing before he finally opened his jaw and let his bruised, bloody hand go. He heard his Papa give a sigh of relief, but he didn't really focus on it. He took the sweatshirt and he hugged it tightly, resting his cheek against the soft fuzz and closed his eyes tightly. He rubbed his cheek against it slowly, focusing on how the fuzz moved with his cheek and felt different when he moved his cheek up versus when he moved it down. He focused on how it smelled, like cologne or aftershave. Up and down, up and down, he continued to slowly rub his cheek against it as his tears slowly came to a stop. He didn't open his eyes, and he was out of breath from all of his crying, but he was okay. He was safe. The world had calmed down for him, he was alright. 

He felt a gentle kiss on his cheek and the familiar smell of his Papa, cigarettes and cologne. It was a good smell. It was Home. "I am so, so proud of you Daichi," He heard Ukai whisper and Daichi felt his heart swell a little bit. Even though his expression didn't change, he felt happy on the inside. 

He felt a hand on his back, rubbing up and down. That was different that how Papa did it, he normally did it in circles. Then he heard a familiar voice. "You did so good Daichi," And Daichi felt another swell as Suga praised him. He very slowly opened his eyes and looked over at Suga, the Number Two on his jersey looking back at him. 

Feeling a little bit more confident, Daichi lifted his head. His eyes were red and puffy and he wiped them slowly. He had dropped poor Volley in his agitation and he leaned down to pick her up, hugging her tightly and giving her a gentle kiss. 

Suga smiled as he gently took Daichi's hand. "I am so proud of you," He said, and that did make Daichi smile a little bit. Suga was proud of him. Suga was proud of him. Proud....he'd done good. The world had made him angry but he'd calmed down. And he'd made two people proud. Two people who believed in him.


End file.
